Guard Your Home’s Electrical System From Damage With Surge Protection

Categories: Electrical Services, Tips for Your Home

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Does your home contain delicate electronics and sophisticated appliances? Those electronics are vulnerable to electrical surges. In 2008 alone, there were over $1 billion in insurance claims for these electrical surges. You can prevent this kind of damage to your home with surge protection.

Power Surges, Inside and Out

Most people think of power surges coming from outside the home, like with a lightning strike. But, most surges — up to 80 percent — actually come from within your home.

Think about the major systems in your home that cycle on and off. The air conditioner or heat pump is a good example of this. Every time it turns on, it draws a major amount of power. When it cycles off, that power need is gone. There’s a constant surge and release.

That cycling actually causes tiny surges throughout the day. They don’t necessarily cause instantaneous damage like a lightning strike would, but they can cause cumulative damage to sensitive electronics and shorten the life of TVs, microwaves and smart appliances.

Preventing Surge Damage

You need to have two layers of protection to prevent surge damage.

Add a whole house surge protector to your main panel. This device hooks into the main electrical panel and can protect your home for up to 40,000 amps. If a lightning strike happens or a massive surge comes into the house via a power line, the surge protector will divert the surge through the grounding system instead of letting it enter the house’s circuits.

Continue the protection with plug-in surge strips. These help keep internal surge damage to a minimum. Plug-in surge protectors should be rated by Underwriter’s Laboratory, have a clamping value of 400 volts or less, absorb 600 joules or more, protect all incoming lines, and have indicator lights to show if it’s working. You can install them yourself or have a handyman do the job.